The development of railML 3.x as a completely new defined exchange format based on UIC´s RailTopoModel began in summer 2017. railML3.1 Beta1, was published on 31.10.2017. A Beta-version 1.2 was available in summer 2018, developed on the basis of the feedback on railML3.1 Beta1. By the end of August 2018 railML.org published railML3.1 Beta2 with the help of the community (see Version Timeline).

Unfortunately, a significant amount of feedback from the community did not arrive until the dissemination workshop and railML3.2 Kick-Off Meeting took place in Prague mid November 2018. Additionally, a major problem (usage of xsi:types) was discovered during the coordinator meeting in Dresden in December 2018. As a consequence railML.org decided to postpone the release of railML 3.1, originally planned for 10th of December. Intensive discussions and a ballot with the involved developers and stakeholders, in the days before Christmas, have confirmed this approach.

Updated release plan for railML 3.1

Subsequently, the railML coordinators decided for the following time schedule aiming at a rapid, but well-founded development of railML 3.1:

• 15.01.2019: Finalisation of the adjustments of railML 3.1 Release Candidate 1 (i.e. adaptation xsi:type; naming elements; correction of spelling mistakes)
• Discussion with developers; finalisation of modelling work (UML + XSD)
• 29.01.2019: Publication of the adapted 3.1 Release Candidate 2
• Documentation: Adaption Wiki and customization of examples
• 19.02.2019: Release of Version 3.1

Although this is two months after the last announced schedule, this offers the opportunity to include parts of the documentation in the publication. In addition, the resulting version is much more stable and better than a fast version developed in 2018.

We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to your feedback regarding the current status and requirements. Please let us know via the discussion forum or contact us directly.

Updated license version for railML 3.x

railML.org will change to the current version 4.0 of the Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) for railML 3.x. This was decided by the railML.org corrdinators during the Coordinators Meeting on December 10th, 2018. The version of the Creative Commons License for railML 2.x remains unchanged (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). The changes between the different versions of the Creative Commons License are described on the pages of the Creative Commons Organization.

The general license model and the usage possibilities of railML remain unchanged. I.e. railML will stay free of charge as stated in the corresponding news article.